Briefly: Apple v. Samsung

A common response to the verdict in Apple v. Samsung is that this is great for Apple and bad for consumers because the patent system in the United States is fundamentally flawed and allows large companies to wield their patent portfolios like hammers, smashing innovation and stifling the market.

While I completely agree the patent system can lead to some truly horrendous and unfortunate circumstances (cf. “Lodsys sues developers over patent infringement”), I don’t believe this is the case here.

Should Apple be allowed to patent a screen full of rounded rectangles? Personally, I don’t believe so. But even if they were unable to patent this, should Samsung be allowed to blatantly copy Apple’s work, tweak it (for the worse) and release it as their own? I’m not a fan of software patents, but I am a fan of ethical and respectful business practice.

Nice take on the Apple V. Samsung court battle…

Also, Marco Arment posted another good post as well that’s worth reading..